Three men have been cleared of raping an underage girl who has a history of making false allegations, including drug pushing and sexual abuse.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli noted that the minor, who was 17 when the case began eight years ago, had escaped from home 11 times in the four preceding years and every time claimed she had been sexually abused.

Aldo Muscat, 43, of Mellieħa, Noel Buttigieg, 40, of Ħamrun and Arnold Farrugia, 46, of Żebbuġ, were charged with rape, violent indecent assault and offending morals by performing sexual acts in public. The crimes allegedly took place in May and June 2007.

Mr Muscat was also charged with living off the earnings of prostitution and inciting the minor to prostitution.

The court heard that, in May 2007, the girl, who was six months pregnant, had escaped from her parents’ home while on ‘leave’ from Mount Carmel Hospital, where she was receiving psychiatric help.

Court-appointed psychiatrists testified that the girl had a social conduct disorder and had sex with different men from the tender age of 13

She had been missing for three weeks when the police found her in an apartment in Qawra owned by James Mifsud.

The girl told the court she had met Mr Buttigieg in a bar in Mellieħa and he gave her a lift to St Paul’s Bay. She claimed he had insisted on being intimate and she had given in because she was “scared” of him. She later met another man and went to his apartment, where they had sex.

She met Mr Buttigieg later that night and they had sex again.

The girl said there was another occasion in which she had sex with Mr Buttigieg and another person in a bar and, later that evening, met Mr Muscat and Mr Farrugia and went with them to Gozo, where she had sex with both men.

She testified that when they returned to Malta, Mr Muscat introduced her to Mr Mifsud, who refused to pay her for sex but offered to let her live in his apartment. She eventually had sex with him too.

In her considerations, Magistrate Demicoli noted the girl’s version was not one that could lead to a moral conviction, especially when considering that she had lied about her age and even her name. Furthermore, she had made similar claims before and, therefore, she could not be trusted.

The girl had made allegations about several men in the past, accusing them of crimes such as drug trafficking, living off the earnings of prostitution, sexual abuse and defilement.

They had been prosecuted and cleared of the charges.

The court said that even though the girl claimed she feared Mr Buttigieg, she still gave him her mobile phone number and had gone back to the bar where he worked.

“Moreover, if she was scared of the other two accused, why did she go with them to Gozo,” the magistrate asked.

Court-appointed psychiatrists testified that the girl had a social conduct disorder and had sex with different men from the tender age of 13.

The magistrate pointed out that although the sexual encounters did occur, it was consensual.

Mr Buttigieg was sentenced for three months in jail term suspended for a year after he was found guilty of offending public morals when it resulted that he had sex with the girl in a car.

Police Inspector Louise Calleja prosecuted.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli, Dean Hili, Arthur Azzopardi and Giannella de Marco appeared for the accused.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.